Standard history of Essex county, Massachusetts, embracing a history of the county from its first settlement to the present time, with a history and description of its towns and cities. The Most historic county of America., Part 99

Author: Tracy, Cyrus M. (Cyrus Mason), 1824-1891, et al. Edited by H. Wheatland
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Boston, C. F. Jewett
Number of Pages: 450

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Standard history of Essex county, Massachusetts, embracing a history of the county from its first settlement to the present time, with a history and description of its towns and cities. The Most historic county of America. > Part 99

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It comes into blossom during the month of June, and is seldom found so far away from its Virginian home. The northern flower, ealled Linda borealis, also appears among the ledges of this beauti-

ful town. In these two flowers the northern and the southern elimes seem to meet, and to display their beauty side by side.

The population in 1875 was 1,560, of whom 774 were males, and 786 females. The oldest person had attained the age of eighty-eight years. There was no person of color in town. The number of rata- ble polls was 443, and of voters 402. The town had 335 dwelling- houses, and 418 families. Of the males, 3 were clergymen, 3 physi- eians, 9 elerks, 3 master-mariners, 14 mariners, 23 merchants and traders, 32 farmers, 20 farm laborers, 17 fishermen, 103 cabinet-mak- ers, 29 carpenters, 7 ehair-makers, 14 eurriers, 13 painters, 33 shoe- makers, 54 laborers, and 1 retired. Of the females, 9 were teachers, 366 housewives, 32 housekeepers, 33 domestie servants, 7 dressmak- ers, 7 seamstresses, and 7 shoemakers.

The number of farms was 29 ; of horses, 114 ; and of mileh cows, 91. The capital invested in manufactures was ; for cabinet-work, $81,000 ; leather, $15,000 ; essences and extracts, $4,000 ; shoes, $3,000 ; bread and eraekers, $3,000; buildings (wooden), $2,000 ; and newspapers, $200. The value of goods produced for the year ending May 1, 1875, was $179,581; the number of barrels of mackerel taken was 1,800, valued at $18,000. The town had five vessels engaged in coastwise commerce, with a tonnage of 1,267, valued at $70,800. The town valuation was $1, 739,216. The town has six public schools, one of which is a high school, and the roads and bridges are kept in good repair. There are three villages, - Newport, Manchester Centre, and Kettle Cove in the south-easterly section. The eeu- tral village, built on both sides of Jeffrey's Creek, has an air of thrift and neatness, and is very well shaded with ancient trees. Here are three churches, - Congregational, Baptist, and Roman Catholic, a town hall, with a well-selected publie library ; a good hotel, post- office, Post of the G. A. R., and an Odd Fellows' Lodge. This vil- lage is partially surrounded by wooded hills, on one of which stands an old powder-house, and the commingling of the land and water sceu- ery renders a view from almost any elevated point delightful. The rides along the shore, commanding views of the islands and the open sea, together with the deep green forests of the interior, are as enjoy- able as any to be had upon the Cape, and, for this and other reasons, Manchester has now become a favorite summer resort. In respect to healthfulness, as well as beauty and variety, it stands in the front rank of all our seaboard villages. Well has the Rev. Mr. Tenney, in his " Coronation " said of it: "Woods as well as sea conspire to make Manchester the most delightful resort on the whole New England eoast."

The settlement of Manchester was among the earliest of the State. Attracted by the beauty of the spot, and the abundance of fish its eoves and ereeks afforded, William Jeffrey, whose name Jeffrey's Creek perpetuates, fixed, with some other hardy men, his residence here, as early as 1628. The land then belonged to Salem, and was known as "Jeffrey's Creek."

William Allen and Goodman Norman, with his son, are said to have been the first actual settlers, and were here as early as 1626. Other early settlers were Samuel Areher, 1630; Robert Leach, 1636 ; William Bennett, 1637 ; George Norton, 1640 ; Richard Norman, John Blaek, James Standish, John Friend, the Rev. Ralph Smith, William Walton, John Norman, William Dixy, John Piekworth, John Gally, Benjamin Parmenter, Robert Allen, Edmena Prover, Robert Leach, 1642; John Kettle, 1650. The earliest recorded ealamity of the place is, that in 1631 six men were drowned near Kettle Island, in a boat.

The settlement rapidly increased in numbers, and in 1635, the Rev. Ralph Smith, the first ordained minister at Plymouth, eame to preach to the people. He probably officiated in a log-house of one of the settlers, or, in pleasant weather, under the branches of some ancient oak-tree. He was graduated at Cambridge, Eng., 1613, and settled over the Plymouth Church in 1629, where he was assisted by the cele- brated Roger Williams. "He was," says Mr. Neal, "a learned man of good abilities ; but of an unsettled head. He was for refining upon the Brownists' seheme, and at last declared for the principles of the

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Baptists ; upon this, he left Amsterdam and settled with his disciples at Ley, where being at a loss for a proper administrator of the ordi- nance of baptism, he plunged himself, and then performed the eere- mony upon others which gained him the name of Se-Baptist," that is, Self Baptist. He died at Boston, in 1662. It does not appear that he was installed at Jeffrey's Creek, or indeed that any church was or- ganized there during the seventeenth century ; but the support of a minister, or the promise to that effect, was then necessary to secure the organization of a township. The land was originally granted by Salem to the following persons ; viz., William Allen, Samuel Archer, John Black, Sergeant Dixie, John Morse, the Widow Morse, John Sibley, George Williams, and Sergeant Wolf. It was named by Wil- liam Allen, either from the Duke of Manchester, or from the town of Manchester, Eng., and was incorporated May 14, 1645, it being then the twenty ninth town formed in the Massachusetts Colony. Win- throp, in his journal, says that on the " 5th, 9th mo. 1645, the village at Jeffrey's neck was incorporated and ealled Manchester. Not being in a church state, they have proenred Mr. Smith, sometime minister att Plymouth, to preach to them." The people were then engaged in the fisheries, which branch of business they profitably pursued for almost two hundred years.

It does not appear that the inhabitants were ever molested by the Indians, or that there were ever many of them in the place; yet a few of their implements, both of peace and war, have been discovered in the town. Some Indian skeletons, gouges, tomahawks, and fire- places have been exhumed. Several Indian mounds have also been discovered. The land belonged originally to Maseonomo, the noted sagamore of Agawam.

On the early Salem records the following grants appear : -

" 28 of ye 6th moneth 1637, John Pieworth requesteth for a pcel [parcel ] of land at Jeffries Creeke." " 8, 9th mo. Jno : Pikwod, Jno : Gally, Jno : Norman & Wm Bennitt have alowed these power eyther of them 25 acres a man att Jefferyes Creeke."

"There is granted to Richard Graves half an aere of land vpon the neck for the setting of his howse, he promising to follow fishinge 5. 10 mo, 1637."

"26, 9 mo. 1638 Graunted to Samuell Archer one neek of Land lying out against the sea neere vnto Jeffry Creeke Iland conteyning twentie acres of meadow to be layed him out in Kettle Island Cove."

" 27. 11 mo, 1628, Seargent Dixy desires some hay ground about Jefferyes Creeke."

" 4 12 mo [same year ] Graunted to Robert Allyn 25 aeres of land : lyinge betweene the land of Wm Bennett and Samuel Areher [their land] at Jeffrys Creeke."

" 16. 7 mo. 1639 James Standish is graunted 40 aeres of land neere Jeffry Creeke."

" 21, 11 mo 1640 Granted Beniamin Parminster 10 acres of land at Jeff[ryes ] Creeke where the former grants are made good."

There was granted, "4, 1 mio, 1643," by the " seven men " of Salem to Richard Gardner " at Jefferyes Creeke 20 twentie acres of land : to be layd out by the Town."

" Graunted to Robert ffuller 20 acres of land at Jeffryes Creeke to be layd out by the Towne, if hee dwell there, otherwise to desert the land." " 29. 4 mo 1646, Ordered that William Woodburie & Richard Brack- enburie, Ensigne Dixy, Mr Conant, & Lientenant Lothrop & Law- rence Leech shall forthwth lay out a way betweene the fferry at Salem & the head of Jeffryes Creeke and that it be such a way as men may tranell on horseback & drive cattle & if such a way may not be found then to take speedy Course to sett up a foote-bridge at Mack- rell Cove." This was probably the first road opened in the new town, and very likely followed the present main road from Manchester to Beverly.

It does not appear that William Jeffreys, from whom Jeffrey's Creek received its name, resided long in the place, or what became of him. He owned the tract of land called Jeffrey's Neck, in Ips- wich, and, in 1642, was one of the proprietors of Weymouth. As early as 1634, Winthrop styles him " an old planter," and in 1666, he claimed his lands in Ipswich.

In 1636, four hundred acres of land, embracing the central village, were granted to the settlers, William Allen, Samnel Archer, Sergeant Dixy, John Sibley, Lieut. More, and the Widow More. It was then covered with a fine growth of walnut-trees.

The bounds were settled in 1642, between Jeffrey's Creek and Gloucester, and the town was then represented as much engaged in the fishery. Kettle Island was granted to John Kettle in 1649.

The early town records are for the most part illegible; but a few sneh items as the following appear :

"Ye 2ª of ye 12th mo. 1656, it was agreed that a meeting house should be built 18 feet long with two gable ends to be set near the landing place & the planters are to come & eut the timber this day fortnight, William Bennett, John Piekworth, & Samuel Friend to oversee the getting of timber."

Dee. 13, 1658, the inhabitants order " all rates that are behind to be gathered by Abraham Whittier who hath full power from the plan- tation. Paseo Fote, John Sibley, Robert Leach, Henry Lee, Samuel Friend, William Jones, William Bennett, John Pickworth, James Standish." On the " 6th of the 10th mo. 1658, It is ordered and agreed nt a town meeting that all orders formerly made and herein expressed in writing shall stand good concerning masts, trees, hogsheads and barrels. For masts for banks and trees, for each mast £0 5s 6d. All bowsprits and other yards as Goodman Bennett shall Judge who is ap- pointed by the town. For shallops mast £0 1s 0, for spikeshaft £0 1s 0. For trees for Hogsheads and barrels £0 2s 6d. And it is or- dered that no posts or rails shall be cut from our commons and trans- planted out of the town."

In 1662, there were twenty-one landholders, among whom were Samuel Friend, William Allen, James Standish, Robert Leach, John Norman, Nicholas Vincent, Widow Lee, William Bennett, Pitts, Mav- eric, Chubb, Palmiter, Blackledge Pickworth, Isaac Whichar, and Ambrose Gale.

Three years later, Thomas West was sent as the first representative to the General Court.

" Dee. 14, 1660, John Blackleach sent of Boston sold to John West planter his land in Manchester which was granted him by the town of Salem."

The Dutch, in 1677, came and plundered some of the vessels here, and the loss sustained by John Norman was made up by the town.

Samuel Friend had the Island Wharf, where his house stood, granted to him in 1668 ; and in 1672, Robert Leach was appointed as a grand juror. On the breaking out of Philip's War, in 1675, two garrisons were established in the town, and doubtless some of the citizens were impressed into the service ; and John Allen, Joshua Carter, and Charles Bennett, were slain at Bloody Brook, on the 18th of September. This company, under Capt. Thomas Lothrop, of Beverly, was called " the very FLOWER OF ESSEX COUNTY." They were ambuscaded by about 700 Indians, and their captain, with seventy-six men, was killed. A monument was erected over their remains in 1838.

The seleetmen, in 1680, were Robert Leach, John Lee, and Isaac Witcher [Whittier ( ?)].

Before the organization of the church, Nov. 7, 1716, professors of religion here communed with the First, or Mr. Higginson's church, in Salem, till 1667; and after that, with the First, or Mr. Hale's church, in Beverly. Although no records of early ecclesiastical affairs have been preserved, it is known that the Rev. John Windborn came to preach here in 1680, and was to have £13 10s., and his firewood, for his salary.

Mr. Windborn resigned his charge in 1689. The Colony tax for Manchester this year was £3 7s. 6d., and seventy men were drafted from the Essex County regiment, to fight against the Indians, at the eastward. The troops from Manchester served under Maj. B. Gedney, of that regiment.

In the year following, the town voted to build a new meeting-house, thirty feet long, and twenty-five feet wide, with three galleries, and a place for a bell of 100 lbs. or more. The Rev. John Eveleth (Har- vard College, 1689), came to preach here about this time, and re- mained till 1695. He subsequently preached in Stow and in Kenne- bunk, Me., and died Aug. 1, 1734. He was followed here by the Rev. John Emerson, in 1695, and by the Rev. Nicholas Webster, in 1699.

Thomas Tewksbury represented the town in the General Court, in 1693, and received of it £5 4s. " for 35 days serving his country."

In 1694, the old saw-mill was sold, and a grist-mill was to be set np the same year by John Knowlton. The mill, the blacksmith's shop, and the church, were, at this period, the places of general ren- dezvous, where the affairs of the town and Provinee were diseussed, and the plans for the publie good projected.

A bell, in 1695, was presented to the town by Mr. George Nor- ton, which was to be hung as soon as possible.

John Sibley, Robert Leach and Thomas West were chosen as the first school committee, and money was appropriated for ammunition, and for building a watch-house.

The town, having extensive forests, was much infested with wolves at this period, and May 6, 1696, it voted twenty shillings for an old,

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

289

and five shillings for a young, wolf's head. The number of people taxed this year was fifty, and Samuel Leach and John Lee were the owners of slaves.

In accordance with the eustom of those times, a committee was ap- pointed, in 1697, to seat all persons in the meeting-house, according to the part they paid for the support of the minister, excepting "any antient, grave & sober persons of good conversation." The salary of the Rev. Mr. Webster, for the year ensuing, was £58.

In 1699, a large quantity of the common land was sold, and the proceeds appropriated to the building of a parsonage.

The town paid, in 1700, Samuel English, grandson of Maseonomo, £4 5s. 8d. for the title to the lands of the township. The next year the rate of the town was £23 19s. 11d.

A burial-place was early selected, and the graves of its tenants marked with rude granite headstones. The earliest one bearing an inscription is that of Joseph Woodbury, who died in 1714. The stones need to be retouched by the hand of some "Old Mortality " to render the inseriptions legible.

At the formation of the church, Nov. 7, 1716, the Rev. Ames Cheever, son of the Rev. Samuel Cheever, of Marblehead, and born Oct. 24, 1686 (Harvard College, 1707), was ordained as its first pas- tor. He celebrated the first saerament ever held in the place on the 6th of January, 1717, and was dismissed Feb. 21, 1744. The church adopted the Assembly's Catcehism as the basis of its ereed, " being persuaded in Matters of faith according to ye Catechisme of the As- sembly of Divines, unto the Substance of we we do consent & submitt."

The church then consisted of nine males and ten females. Benja- min Allen and Samuel Lee were then, or soon afterwards, ehosen deacons.

John Pieree was, this year, murdered on board a vessel in Man- chester harbor.

Every pupil in school was taxed fivepence per week for the sup- port, in part, of the teacher.

A committee, consisting of Samnel Lee, Aaron Bennett, Johů Foster, Richard Leach, Benjamin Allen and John Dodge, were chosen in December, 1719, to build a new meeting-house, which was to be forty- nine feet long and thirty-five feet wide ; and the next year the old church was sold for the sum of £12. " All pin money was to be for the building of the minister's pew."

Jabez Dodge was chosen school-master in 1721, and was not to have more than £20 per annum. Among the votes of the town the next year one was that " geese must not run on the eonimon."

In 1723, a new school-house was built on the common near the church, and the sum of £10 was voted for the school, which was to be " for reading & writing English and cyphering." The church and the school then ocenpied the chief attention of the people, and to the benign influence of these institutions the town was largely indebted for its prosperity.

On the 29th of Oetober, 1727, the town was startled by an earthquake, which made a lasting impression upon the minds of the people, lead- ing many to change their course of life. During the twelve months that followed, as many as forty persons united with the church. The eause of an earthquake was not theu understood by the people, and they looked upon it as a direct admonition from the Deity.

In 1731, Mr. Holden, of London, presented to the town and church a copy of Richard Baxter's Practical Works, for binding which it raised the sum of £8. The sad news came, in 1734, that Mr. Ezekiel Knowlton had been shipwrecked ou Sable Island. Engaged as the people were in the fisheries, such disasters were not infrequent, and more were thus made widows and orphans here than in the frontier settlements by encounters with the Indians.

March, 1735-36, Dea. Benjamin Allen, John Foster, Sr., and Thomas Lee were chosen selectmen ; at the same time, it was voted to have "4 Schoole Dams to keepe a free schoole, one at (the eentre), one at Nuport and one at the plains." The town also voted " not to divide the county of Essex." These " sehoole Dams" taught spelling, reading and writing, using "the horn book " and psalter for reading, and the " goose quill pen " grown in the place, for writing. The use of the twigs of the grey birch was also not infrequent.

The sum of £15 was ordered in 1737 for a stock of ammunition, and in 1740 John Driver was killed by the Indians at Cape Sable. The next year a bridge was built over the river near the grist-mill. " March 16 1741-2 John Hill sent was chosen A Inspector of Killing & Hunting of Dears." They were then very plentiful in the forests of Cape Ann. The wildeat or lynx was not uneommon, and the beaver still built his dam across the streams. Feb. 21, 1743, the

Rev. Ames Cheever asked for a dismission, which was granted. Samuel Lee was commissioned as justiee of the peaec in 1744, an offiee which, at that period, gave to its possessor great consideration. The publie school was well sustained, the town raising, in 1745, £22 for its support. John Chandler was theu, or certainly the next year, employed as teacher.

David Allen was at the eapture of Louisburg by the troops under Col. William Pepperrell, June 16th of this year, and wrote a journal of the expedition. John Hassam was killed.

Aug. 19, 1746, the town paid to Benjamin Jewett, for "Ringing the Bel in ye year 1745 £1. 5s .; to Mr Joseph Tuck for making Mary Leaches Coffen 6s 3d & to Samuel Allen Jun" for killing one Will Cat, 6s." Mr. Tappan's salary was £65, and John Chand- ler's, the teacher, £20 per annum, both of which were paid by the town. The yearly reut of the school land was 13s. 9d. Feb. 25, 1746-47, the town paid John Lee, Sr., 11s. 3d. for six feet of wood " for ye watch house." A pound and school-house is then mentioned. The town was also provided with stocks for the evil-doers. They probably stood on the common near the meeting-house.

The second regular pastor, the Rev. Benjamin Tappan, son of Sam- uel and Abigail Tappan, of Newbury, and born there, Feb. 28, 1721 (Harvard College, 1742), was settled over the church, Sept. 11, 1745.

The committee, chosen to agree with Mr. Tappan, consisted of John Edwards, Benjamin Lee, Jonathan Allen, Jr., Andrew Hooper, Richard Coye, John Lee, Robert Herrick, John Lee, Jr., Samuel Allen, Jr., and Jonathan Herrick.

The hardy fishermen suffered frequently from the barbarity of the Indiaus at the eastward. Capt. Amos Hilton, with his son and erew, were killed by the savages near Sheepscot, Me., Ang. 17, 1747. They were engaged in fishing, had probably landed for provisions and were thus beset by the wily foe, and massnered. One lad, named Aaron Lee, was made eaptive, but, soon effecting his eseape, returned home and served as town elerk for many years.

The throat distemper prevailed here greatly in 1748, and by it many children died. It was probably the diphtheria of the present day.

Sept. 15, 1750, Capt. John Lee was paid 58. 4d., " for a Journey after a School Master." Amnes Cheever, Jr., was paid Aug. 24, 1751, " for Keeping 2 months schoole, £4 13s 4d."

June 4, 1751, " A man of Manchester for passing eounterfiet money is sentenced at Ipswich to stand in the pellory one hour, receive 20 stripes, to labor hard in the house of correction 12 months & pay costs of prosecution."*

Josiah Allen, Dee. 16th, of this year, was chosen to serve as a grand juror.

It was voted, March, 16, 1752, "to tax the town one hundred pounds to defray the charge of building a steeple to the meeting house."

In June of this year, Aaron Bennett, Jr., and wife, widow Abiel Hosham, widow Abigail Leaeh, and one other person, of Manchester, were admitted to the Rev. John Cleaveland's church, of Chebacco. They were what were then ealled "New Lights," or believers in the doctrines taught by Mr. Whitefield.

Mr. Samuel Wigglesworth was paid Nov. 13, 1753, "for Keeping sehoole five sixth of oue quarter year £5. 11s 12d."

In the second book of the church records oceurs the following entry :-

" N. B. Doetor Watts version of the Psalms of David was intro- duced by the Church of Christ in Manchester in June 1753 : and his Hymns to be sung at the Lord's table." Some churches greatly objected to the use of this new manual of hynmology, but it does not appear to have had to fight its way into the church at Manchester. Only about a dozen psalm tunes, as " Hackney," " New Commandment Tune," " Windsor," and "The Old Hundredth," were sung at this period.

The town voted, Sept. 7, 1754, to draw from the treasury money. needful in conjunction with other towns " to Destroy those Devouring Wolves, which are in, or may be found in the woods between Ipswich, Gloucester, Manchester, Beverly, and Wenham."

The town this year paid £7 10s. 8d. for a weather-cock, the same which is still in use.

Col. Benjamin Marston died in this place in 1754, and this equivo- cal inseription marks his monument : - " Col. Benja Marston lies here, who died, May 22 1754, being 57 years & 3 mo. old. Art thou curious, reader, to know what sort of a man he was? Wait till the final day of Retribution & then thou mayest be satisfied."

* History of Ipswich, p. 318.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The number of deaths in 1755 was twenty-four, and in the year fol- lowing, seven men were lost at sea. The most notable event in 1756 was the death of the Rev. Ames Cheever, who passed away on the 15th of January. Ames Cheever, his son, was the school-master in 1758, and this year Capt. Samuel Leach, Josiah Allen, Robert Bean, and Jacob Crowell were killed by the Indians in Casco Bay, where they were fishing in a schooner of fifty tons. Two boys, James Allen and Nathaniel Masters, who were with them, escaped. John Hassam. a soldier, was killed at the eastward in 1759.

The punishment of petty offenders was by flagellation and by public exposure in the stocks, as may be seen by the following entry in the town records in 1760. " Thomas Lee received for making the Whip- ping Post & a pair of Stocks, 13s. 4d. and 4s 8d for stock irons." The fine for profanity was paid in money, as it is recorded in 1762, that John Lee received 5s. from a person " for swearing."

In 1760 Capt. John Foster, Joseph Whipple, Andrew Woodbury, Jacob Hooper, Jeremiah Allen, Jr., Thomas Lee, Jr., John Tewks- bury, Abraham Masters, Jr., Samuel Carter, Solomon Call, and Thomas Poland agreed to pay their proportion in support of a gram- mar school.

During the revival at Chebacco, in 1763, several of the Manchester people united with the Rev. John Cleaveland's church in that place, much to the displeasure of Mr. Tappan, who had but little sympathy with the Whitefieldlian movement. Among the number was Edward Lee, " The Apostolic Fisherman," of whom Mr. Cleaveland gives an interesting account in his "Plain Narrative," published at Boston in 1767.

In 1764 Benjamin Andrew, Charles Leach, and David Foster were lost in the " Mayflower," coming from the West Indies. The town for a long period had furnished a large number of hardy seamen to vessels from Salem, Newbury, and Boston. The population in 1765 was 732, of whom twenty-four were colored. This year John Lee, Sr., died, and in 1766 Robert Warren, at the remarkable age of 100 years. In 1767 ten men from Manchester were lost at sea. In 1769 there were 210 taxable persons in town ; in 1772 a windmill was erected, and singing seats were provided for the choir in the gallery of the church. The singers had then begun to sing by note, and to sit apart from the congregation. The tune was started by a wooden pitch-pipe about one foot in length, on which the letters of the seale were cut. The tones were produced by blowing into one end of the instrument, and the pitch was obtained by sliding the rod that filled the cavity of the pipe up or down.

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Standard history of Essex county, Massachusetts, embracing a history of the county from its first settlement to the present time, with a history and description of its towns and cities. The Most historic county of America., Part 99

Author: Tracy, Cyrus M. (Cyrus Mason), 1824-1891, et al. Edited by H. Wheatland Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Boston, C. F. Jewett Number of Pages: 450

Author: Tracy, Cyrus M. (Cyrus Mason), 1824-1891, et al. Edited by H. Wheatland
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Boston, C. F. Jewett
Number of Pages: 450